Royals brass might be interrogated

Chandila's lawyer alleges management knew about betting

Rajasthan Royals’ team management — including Bollywood actor-owner Shilpa Shetty, husband Raj Kundra and team captain Rahul Dravid — might be called for questioning “if there is a need,” said senior Delhi Police officers.

The role of the team management has come into focus after spinner Ajit Chandila’s lawyer alleged the management was aware players were being approached by bookies.

However, a Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said there was no reason to interrogate Dravid, Kundra and Shilpa Shetty in the spot-fixing racket. “Delhi Police has no reason to call them to join the investigation of the spot-fixing case,” a PTI report quoted him as saying.

Delhi Police yesterday arrested S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — players in Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee Rajasthan Royals — for spot-fixing. Eleven bookies who had paid Rs 1.2 crore to the three for bowling one “fixed” over each in three matches over the past 10 days were also arrested.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has now asked the police to share evidence and call records of the three players to verify their claims. Last year, five players were caught in a sting and were suspended by BCCI, but when the cricket body analysed hours of tapes, they found the evidence inconclusive, a BCCI member said.

BCCI will meet in Chennai on Sunday to discuss the controversy. It suspended Amit Singh, a player with the Gujarat Cricket Association, who was allegedly a bookmaker and was arrested yesterday.

Sreesanth’s lawyer, Deepak Prakash, questioned the credibility of the evidence. “My client has no idea of what is going on. The charges are frivolous and baseless. Sreesanth has not spoken to any of the bookies. There are no tapes which has his voice.”

On the allegation that Sreesanth tucked a towel into his trousers to signal bookies, Prakash said, “Towel is a lucky sign for Sreesanth. He wore it in 90 per cent of his matches. It is no evidence.” Sreesanth did not use a towel in his first over as he was not sweating then. “Only when it sweats will you ask for a towel. In the first over, there was no sweat.”

The bouncers for IPL did not stop with that. The ratings of IPL this season have seen a drop. In the first six weeks (59 matches), the average all-India rating was down 14 per cent to 2.9 television ratings.

Meanwhile, the police in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have joined the probe. Tamil Nadu police have arrested six in Chennai.

Investigators suggested Chandila had met a bookie in Gurgaon on Sreesanth’s request. Chandila was in constant touch with bookies during the previous season of IPL, they alleged. Senior Delhi Police officers indicated the forensic examination of Chandila’s phone has thrown up evidence that he was talking to bookies in the 2012 season of IPL. The phone records of bookies and players showed they were in touch with two Dubai-based bookies, Sunil Abhay Chandani alias Sunil Dubai and Suresh Nagar alias Junior Kolkata.

Police officers said they have evidence suggesting Chandani and Nagar were acting as a link between bookies in India and those in Karachi and Lahore. Investigators of the special cell pointed out that Chandani often travels to Delhi, Mumbai, Dubai and London.

Investigations have also unearthed 50 calls routed through Pakistan during the spot-fixing deals.